“Does the government have the right to collect taxes?”

At the church where I serve we are in the midst of a sermon series entitled “Vote for Jesus”. During this series, our hope and our prayer is to accomplish three specific goals. First, our hope and our prayer is to demonstrate that Jesus is not a republican and Jesus is not a democrat. Instead, Jesus is God and as God Jesus is the one that we are to place our hope in, not a political party. Second, our hope and our prayer is to equip and empower us to think critically and Biblically when it comes to the issues that our culture is faced with that often find themselves expressed in the political process. And third, our hope and prayer is to provide a framework from the message and teachings of Jesus when it comes to how we as followers of Jesus are to engage in the government and in the political process in way that reveals and reflects Jesus to those around us.

Last week, we addressed the issue of the economy. Specifically, we asked the question “What type of economic system would Jesus promote?” We then discovered that to vote for Jesus is to vote for an economic system that supports private property and provides financial opportunity. You see, to vote for Jesus is to recognize that we have been divinely designed to live in relationship with Him and one another and have been given responsibility to rule over the earth as His representative here on earth. And a part of that Divine Design is the opportunity to own private property.

To vote for Jesus is to recognize that Jesus is not against us owning private property; what Jesus is against is private property owing us. To vote for Jesus is to recognize that to work hard and to leverage the resources that they owned as a result of their hard work that revealed and reflected Jesus to those in the workplace in order to meet the pressing and practical needs of others in a way that reveals and reflects Jesus.

And to vote for Jesus is to promote economic policies that provide financial opportunities for everyone, regardless of economic status. To vote for Jesus is to promote economic policies that provide the opportunity for individuals, through their efforts, to gain the education and opportunities to improve their economic status. 

To vote for Jesus is to promote policies that do not deny justice to someone because they are either rich or poor. To vote for Jesus recognizes and protects the belief that one's economic status should not be a factor when it comes to justice and that each individual, regardless of economic status, is responsible for their actions. We ended our time with a fundamental question regarding the economy unanswered. And that fundamental question is this "Well Dave what about taxes?”

So this week I would like for us to address the issue of taxes. Specifically, I would like for us to ask and answer the questions “Does the government have the right to collect taxes? And if so, then what type of tax system would Jesus promote? So let’s take each of these questions and let’s see what the message and teachings of Jesus has to say about these questions.

First, let’s take the question “Does the government have the right to collect taxes?” What is so fascinating about this question is that this question is not a new question. As a matter of fact this question was actually asked of Jesus. We see this question asked of Jesus in an event from history that is recorded for us in a section of an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the book of Matthew. So let’s jump into this event from history together, beginning in Matthew 22:15:

Then the Pharisees went and plotted together how they might trap Him in what He said. And they sent their disciples to Him, along with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any. "Tell us then, what do You think? Is it lawful to give a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?"

Matthew, who was a former tax collector who became one of the twelve closest followers of Jesus, gives us a front row seat to this event from history by providing for us the context and the question that was asked Jesus. This event from history occurred on the Tuesday before Jesus was arrested, tried, and crucified. Matthew tells us that the Pharisees, who were the self righteous religious people of Jesus day, gathered together to plot and plan how they could trap Jesus so as to discredit Jesus.

You see, as Jesus gained in popularity among the Jewish people, the Pharisees began to lose the power and influence that they so desperately desired. So the Pharisees wanted to discredit Jesus publicly so they could retain the positions of power and influence that they had prior to Jesus arriving on the scene. After plotting and planning, these self righteous people thought that they had come up with the perfect question that would discredit Jesus. So, with their question in hand, these self righteous religious leaders approached Jesus as He was surrounded by large crowds.

Upon gaining Jesus attention; upon trying to lower Jesus defenses by brownnosing Jesus, these self righteous religious leaders then sprang the question that they thought would trap Jesus on Jesus “"Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any "Tell us then, what do You think? Is it lawful to give a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?"

Now to fully understand why this question was viewed as being a trap, we first need to understand where the Jewish people were at during this time in history. At this time in history, the Jewish people were a conquered people who lived under the rule of the Roman Empire, which was the dominant military and political power in the world at this time in history.

 

So the question that these Jewish religious leaders posed, if communicated in the language that we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “The Roman government says we are to pay taxes to Caesar as our ruler and Lord, but the Bible says that God gave us this land and that He is our ruler and Lord. So what do you say we should do? Should we pay taxes or not?”

You see, these self righteous people believed that this question placed Jesus in a no win situation. If Jesus answered the question by saying that the Jewish people should not pay taxes to Caesar, then the Romans would view Him as leading a rebellion and would kill Jesus. However, if Jesus answered the question by saying that the Jewish people should pay taxes to Caesar, then the Jewish people would see Him as a traitor to the Jewish people and of being disloyal to the Lord.

Either way, Jesus would lose power and influence and the self righteous religious people would gain power and influence. However, what these self righteous religious people were not prepared for was the answer that Jesus would give to this question. An answer that Matthew records for us beginning in versed 18:

But Jesus perceived their malice, and said, "Why are you testing Me, you hypocrites? "Show Me the coin used for the poll-tax." And they brought Him a denarius. And He said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?" They said to Him, "Caesar's." Then He said to them, "Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God the things that are God's." And hearing this, they were amazed, and leaving Him, they went away.”?

Well, that did not work out like the self righteous religious leaders had planned. Instead or gaining influence by eroding Jesus influence, this question and Jesus answer to this question resulted in the further erosion of the self righteous religious leaders influence and Jesus gaining influence.

And it is in Jesus answer to this question that we see Jesus reveal for us the reality that there are two spheres of influence in the life of a follower of Jesus. In one sphere of influence are those things which belong to government, which Jesus refers as the things that are Caesar’s. The other sphere of influence involves those things which belong to the religious life of people, which Jesus refers to as the things that are God’s.

Jesus here is revealing for us the reality that the church should not try to control the things that are involved in the sphere of government and the government should not try to control the things that are involved in the sphere of church. Jesus point here is that as followers of Jesus we are responsible for fulfilling our responsibilities that belong to the sphere of government, which includes paying taxes.

As followers of Jesus, there is no Biblical basis for refusing to pay taxes. As a matter of fact, Jesus paid taxes. The disciples of Jesus paid taxes. And early followers of Jesus paid taxes. We see this reality reinforced by the Apostle Paul in a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of Romans. In Romans 13:1-7, which we looked at in the very first sermon in this series, we see Paul command followers of Jesus to do the following when it comes to taxes in Romans 13:6-7:

For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.

In these verses, we see Paul reveal for us the reality that we are to practice a lifestyle of submission to government by fulfilling our responsibilities. We see this revealed for us four different ways that we as followers of Jesus are to fulfill our responsibilities to government. And part of that responsibility is to pay our taxes. We are to pay our taxes to whom it is due; local, state, and federal.

So, throughout the message and teachings of the letters that make up the Bible, we see that the government has the right to collect taxes and that followers of Jesus are to fulfill their responsibilities to pay taxes. Now, that leads us to the next question which we need to ask and answer, which is “What type of tax system would Jesus promote?”

Tomorrow we will begin to answer that question…